Washington boasts a number of attractions, including but not limited to its natural splendor, the Puget Sound, and the Cascade Range Mountains. It is also home to the capital of the United States. As such, it comes as no surprise that the state also struggles with high rates of alcohol and drug abuse and addiction among its residents.
Heroin is increasingly becoming more accessible in the state of Washington. From 2013 to 2014, for instance, the city of Seattle as well as its surroundings saw an increase in the total number of deaths involving this drug - up by 58 percent.
In the same way, the state reported the highest rates of substance involved fatalities in the United States between 2000 and 2011. Among these fatalities, the drugs that were most commonly cited include synthetic cannabinoids, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and opioids.
To deal with this problem, the state has been passing a number of laws. For instance, it has tightened regulations on the prescription of drugs that lead to substance abuse and addiction - such as opioid pain relief medications.
However, this has only pushed those people who are already addicted to these medications to turn to other cheaper and more widely accessible alternatives like heroin and fentanyl (and well as its analogs).
Most of the drugs coming into this state arrived through post office shipments, cargo ships, and the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. The habit of abusing these substances, on the other hand, probably started in the 1990s when musicians in the grunge movement moved to Seattle with their heroin abuse habits.
For more than 30 years now, the fatality rate involving substances of abuse has been higher than the total average at the national level. From 1997 to 2007, this problem has continued rising.
Although illicit substances of abuse are often associated with these death rates, prescription opioids tend to be the main culprit. Even so, the worse substance problem in the state involves alcohol.
In 2018, for instance, it was reported that about 20 percent of all students in 12th grade in Washington had engaged in alcohol abuse at least once within the previous year. 1 out of 20 of these students also reported that they had abused alcohol within the 30 days before the survey.
Although the total number of deaths involving opioids have been stabilizing in the state, this class of drugs is still commonly abused among residents. In recent years, the state has also witnessed a decline in the overdose deaths involving prescription opioid pain relief medications. At the same time, however, deaths arising from synthetic opioids like fentanyl and its analogs as well as heroin have been rising.
In 2006, for instance, heroin was responsible for 53 overdose deaths - a number that increased to 287 fatalities by 2016 (an increase of more than 440 percent). In 2006, also, synthetic opioids were responsible for 51 overdose deaths, but this number increased to 87 fatalities by 2016.
If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol - or a combination of the two - it is recommended that you enroll in a professional addiction treatment and rehabilitation program in Washington so that you can get the help you need to achieve sobriety and recovery.